Odd comedy totters with imbalances

Monday

Don't be misled by the hammy acting in Don't Talk to the Actors, which opened Thursday in the Campus Center Theatre.

The near-farcical script requires it.

Don't be misled by the hammy acting in Don't Talk to the Actors, which opened Thursday in the Campus Center Theatre.

The near-farcical script requires it.

Otterbein Summer Theatre has launched its 43rd season with a well-cast Midwestern premiere of a comedy that's broadly amusing even if it's not as funny as it should be.

Director Doreen Dunn does her best to ensure that the performances of six student actors pop as they risk going over the top in Buffalo playwright Tom Dudzick's exaggerated tale about the first Broadway experience of a naive playwright.

Playing straight man in a contrived story that often seems as dated and artificial as a 1970s sitcom, Drew Cotton is the only actor with a relatively believable character, playing Mike, the savvy director who gives the playwright good advice: "Don't talk to the actors."

Still wet behind the ears, Jerry Przpezniak (Adam Schalter) is unable to appreciate the advice or protect himself against the raving Broadway egos surrounding him.

handed charm to manipulate Jerry into making his role bigger while trying to seduce Jerry's star-struck girlfriend, Arlene (Stanzi Davis).

Liz Shivener has fun as Beatrice Pomeroy, a bawdy older actress who's almost as much of a ham. Shivener's gung-ho energy compensates for a weak first-act ending.

The script, which could use a rewrite, struggles to anchor humor with coming-of-age drama. Although the second act is longer than the first -- generally a no-no, especially for comedy -- it's also funnier, and it belatedly brings something approaching humanity to some characters.

There's something wrong when the most affecting performance comes from a side character: Jen Brunker as Lucinda, the British stage manager. Initially one-dimensional in her compulsive tidiness, Lucinda becomes surprisingly deeper with a convincing change of heart.

The play, suggested for mature audiences because of brief comic profanity, benefits from Rebecca White's costumes and David Kerr's evocative sound design.